Making money

 Well, we've been running around like a one-armed paperhanger here at HAWSEPIPER's Afloat Global HQ and Floating Prison. It's busy. The Christmas rush is here. 

     I'll say this- we absolutely didn't have this much ship traffic this time last year. The container ports are running full, New York harbor has NO spaces in the anchorage. It's full. I have never seen that before. Some of that is the 4 day gale that has been very slowly slacking finally this past day or so. It wasn't as intense as that storm that passed through last week, but a Nor'easter formed up and passed us by, slowly, offering a glancing blow that just kept going on and on. Inland New England got pasted worse, and we got 'lucky.' For values of luck. No snow, anyhow. That's a blessing. 

 So, yeah, the past 2 weeks we've been balls to the wall. This is my first watch off since Thanksgiving. I got caught up on maintenance and chores, and sat my ass down for a bit, too. It was awesome. 

     Sometimes you need to have a frenetic week or two to make you appreciate downtime when it happens. 

 So, between increased tanker visits (home heating oil season is coming), and container traffic being really high, it's been good for the wallet I'm sure, given that it's been so slow these past few months. Between big box stores and Amazon, this Christmas might not be a big one, but by appearances from my end, commerce is humming along. 

 And, I've got just 3 days to go. Almost time to go home.